Carnivorous Butler
by Aservis Roturier
Summary: Early scene twixt demon and his new master. T for a bit of gore and various carnivorous beastsies doing what comes naturally. Now with even MORE BETTY.
1. Chapter 1

Carnivorous Butler

They were broken.

Just as the boy had wanted them to be, just like the ones in the occultists' lair of recent onerous memory: torn limb from limb and broken, torn from their lives and loved ones just as he had once been, torn from his family, his home, his future, his security. Everyone and everything he had loved and who had loved him back. Even his beloved dog...

The boy sneered over at the demon wearing a butler's skin—which was now liberally painted with blood and various other body fluids. A look, a haughty sniff, snugging up his little gloves with nervous, fussy little tugs: the young Phantomhive earl decided despite his nausea and his nerves, he believed he really _could_ learn to love wielding such heady power.

"So, demon: did you enjoy that?"

It was their very first concerted effort toward the boy's revenge: the first of the hidden perpetrators to fall and he was mightily pleased with the (nauseating) results. He walked around the perimeter of the slaughter, trying to get upwind of the stench. He attempted to do it casually, subtly, however, not wanting the demon to know his stomach was unsettled by the sights and smells, not wanting to appear weak, but a quick glance up caught the creature's eyes and immediately he knew: it was a wasted effort. The beast already knew and was laughing at him.

Damn...

"Young master, it was and will always be my distinct joy to carry out my lord's will, whatever that may be," the demon assured with a leer and a swaggering bow, dripping with conceit. How easily the demon disregarded wearing clear and ample evidence of the harrowing slaughter he had just wrought. It was all over his smirking devil's face. Disgusting.

"Especially when I let you 'let the demon out to play,' eh?"

"Quite so," the creature's eyes flashed up briefly with a hellish light and he grinned through the stiffening blood.

"I don't think he believed for a second what he'd done would ever catch up with him or ever touch his home or his family. Not even after he'd realised who we were and why we were there."

"That was my impression as well, master. Not until I put my hands on his daughter's shoulders did he realise the bill had come due."

"I am curious, demon: did you take their souls? You moved so quickly I couldn't see what you were doing."

The briefest of pauses and a slight falling of the corners of his smirking smile were all that betrayed the creature's surprise-_damn that honesty rider on the contract!_

"I did, master. I... wasn't entirely certain you would approve so I did it very quickly. I had hoped you would not notice."

"Oh hell Sebastian, I don't care if you catch a snack on the fly." Privately, the boy considered briefly the moral question as to whether he really ought to care what the demon chose to do with the souls of his enemies or not. Ultimately he decided no. It was their fault he was going to lose _his_ soul, so it only seemed fair he return the favour.

"Anyway, how were they?"

"How were...?" Again the minute pause and mild astonishment. "What a pleasant surprise. My young master troubles himself over his servants pleasure." Another mocking bow and cheeky grin. "The mother and daughter were bland, insipid really, as expected of a sheltered child and a woman of moral rectitude. The man offered a trifle more flavour, but ultimately nothing worthy of note, a mere fortifying morsel quickly caught and even quicker forgotten." He was a curious one, this prissy little noble child. He had contracted with children before but none of them were anything like Ciel Phantomhive. "Shall I carry my young master home now?"

"Clean yourself up first. I won't have you touching me when you're filthy like that." With a quick nod, the demon busied himself de-materialising and re-assembling himself in well-arranged, unstained clothing.

Meanwhile the boy surveyed the killing field they'd created between them and wondered why he was feeling so dissatisfied. _They couldn't possibly be any deader... perhaps if I killed them more slowly next time? Or with my own hands? _Though he doubted he could kill as Sebastian killed, with such pitiless passion, joyously, without hesitation or regret. One probably needed to genuinely _be_ a demon in order to kill like that, not merely be acting like one. _Though I suspect the damage it would do to my conscience would appeal to the tastes of the future devourer of my soul_.

"Sebastian. You're a... a raven, aren't you..." The boy said in a dreamy sort of tone. His dark paladin regarded him with a quirked brow, as he stooped and extended his now spotless arms, wondering what unexpected mental dog-leg the boy might be wandering down this time. The boy, accustomed now to being carried by the creature, approached and permitted himself to be hoisted up on a lean, strong forearm and leaned his body into the warm, broad shoulder. "I mean, I know you aren't literally a raven, not an animal of this world, but you do have some sort of affinity with them beyond just appearing as one sometimes, don't you?"

"Indeed, young master, precisely as you put it: an 'affinity'."

" I think a raven would appreciate such a feast as this, don't you?" the boy said, gesturing at the bodies strewn about.

"Well, perhaps."

"Could you call some?"

"...possibly I could, yes." The demon looked suddenly distracted, his attention turned inward for a few moments, searching for something, then: "Ravens would normally be heading to their night time roosts about now, but...a...ah, yes, there _is_ a flock roosting not too far from here. Shall I call them, then?"

The boy nodded.

"Very good then," The demon pointed to the fiery glow on the horizon. "Look toward the sunset, my lord, that is the direction from which they will come." Already a few isolated bird silhouettes could be seen fluttering on the horizon. "Shall we stay to watch?" He wouldn't normally propose such a gruesome entertainment to one of his human contractors, but this child...who knew what might capture his fancy? And sure enough, the child gave his assent.

Once up on the nearby manor roof, the boy settled himself easily, straddling one of the butler's thighs while using his torso as a backrest. He seemed inclined to conversation-something the demon hadn't noticed the boy being all that interested in up until now.

"It seems fitting to me you are associated with a raven, you know? Because it's a carrion-eating bird. Quite appropriate, really."

"I'm glad my young master approves."

"Oh shut it with the smarmy comments, demon: you couldn't possibly give a rat's arse whether I approve or not."

"On the contrary my lord. You are my master and I do not lie. I am pleased if _you_ are well-pleased with any aspect of my service. I want you to feel you are getting your 'money's worth'. "

"Well. Either way, you are what you are, whether I approve or no."

"Quite true. However, ravens really _are _quite worthy creatures to be associated with. They are likable, intelligent, sometimes humorous, complex creatures, capable even of devious behaviour at times, highly emotional, territorial, competitive. Each one is a true individual."

"You sound as though you've actually spent time amongst them. Have you?"

"I have, my lord. It is really not too different from donning this appearance and living with you if you think about it."

"Interesting. So a demon's holiday is toss on a bird suit and go 'native' for a few weeks, eh? That's rather funny," the boy mused, missing the grin and the silent sniggering from the creature acting as his living chair.

"Well fine. If you say so then I believe you: ravens are the dog's bollocks." The boy said watching the cloud of croaking black birds come swarming in and settle on the bodies. "With any luck the birds will help eradicate any chance of the Yard working out what happened here."

The butler sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose, appalled at the slang the boy had just employed. "My lord I must insist I sit in on the next business meeting you have with those men you hired to man your new Salford warehouse. I am not entirely certain I approve of the sort of things you are picking up from them." the demon shook his head. '_The dog's bollocks' indeed!_

"So, you're a raven, but... these teeth," the boy said almost absently, twisting 'round and laying a finger on the butler's rose-coloured lip near the largest and most alarming example the boy could reach from his perch, "...not exactly part of the 'raven motif' are they."

"No, my lord. More the 'demon motif' I should say." A crooked grin, vastly amused. "Remember, I can appear to you any way you—or I myself—please."

"And these please you, do they?" the boy stared at his servant's mouth, still touching the butler's chin thoughtfully. Usually the demon made an effort to carefully keep his lip over all that strange dentition, and at times the boy was sure they weren't as frankly bestial as they appeared now. Perhaps the slaughter excited his demonic nature and the demonic features to manifest. Or the demon was teasing him, deliberately flashing them due to the subject of their conversation. Maybe both. He was nearly certain there had been times in the past when his teeth had appeared far more normal.

"What pleases my master pleases me, and at the moment these seem to be pleasing and amusing my young master no end." A huge, toothy grin that seemed full to bursting with uneven, multi-pointed teeth that would've looked far more at home in the mouth of some wildcat than this quazi-human.

"In truth I am not by nature a corporeal entity. My physical appearance is merely an illusion, something existing purely to make dealing with me easier for you. It's only purpose is your comfort—or entertainment, as the case may be," the demon butler finished with a smirk.

The fearsome teeth reminded the boy of that circus, and the tiger 'Betty,' whom he remembered fondly for swallowing the demon's entire head when he'd given in to his feline mania in the middle of the Baron Kelvin investigation. The big cat had continued sucking on the demon's head and clutching at his torso with fearsome three-inch claws while Sebastian tried desperately to convince the trainer and ringmaster she was simply giving him 'playful love-bites,' his voice barely audible, because it was reaching them from halfway down the tiger's throat.

Even to Ciel (no cat expert by a long shot) it was plain the big predator was trying to lick the 'fur' off this recently snagged chew toy so she could get down to the serious business of stripping off the meaty parts from her squirmy treat.

Beast, her trainer/human, was wailing on her with that annoying whip and that irritating ringmaster (whom she'd promised herself she'd catch and eat one day to get rid of the man who was always stealing her human's attention) was yelling and gesticulating frantically, women in the audience were fainting left and right, but what was a wild-hearted big cat supposed to do when prey cheerfully leaped into her arms, chucked her chin and did everything but beg her to eat it?

Ciel chuckled, remembering the sight of her huge, rosy tongue, studded with horrible backward-pointing barbs, getting hopelessly tangled up in the demon's absurdly long fringes as she dragged it up the side of his head, her face grimacing wildly as she tried to disentangle herself, eventually concluding chewing it off was her only hope.

"Are souls so fibrous you need such dangerous-looking equipment to deal with them then?" the boy asked, more joking than anything.

"No, but the containers sometimes prove a bit feisty and unwilling to simply lie quietly and allow themselves to be eaten," the demon says, "unlike my excellent little master who pays his debts as a matter of honour." The demon wrapped his arms a little tighter about his diminutive master. "Not that you aren't a delicious little morsel I wouldn't be tempted to nibble on when the time comes, but souls... souls are quite..." and there he paused, sighing a bit, "I'm afraid they'd really quite insubstantial and beyond your inadequate human senses. It would strain even my skill with human speech to find the words to make you understand. But as a demon I can both sense as well as savour them to the full."

"I think I should like ravens like these to have whatever is left when my time comes, Sebastian. Could you arrange that?"

"I cannot promise that, but I shall try to share, master.".

"So do you think I will taste good? Better than this man, eh?"

The demon laughed and shook his head. "I doubt whether any other contractor of mine has ever wasted a moment's thought over whether or not I would enjoy the taste of their soul. You are a most strange and unique little human, young master."

"A little less of the continual harping on my size, thank you." The boy pinked up, highly offended. "So you don't think I'd be a bitter pill that would stick in your craw and choke you?'

The butler hummed thoughtfully, then nuzzled the boy's ear and neck. "Well you're certainly stubborn enough, if that counts for anything. I suppose it's possible you might be a bit like an underdeveloped green apple: rock hard, astringent and inedible, but somehow I doubt it." All through these words the demon had continued snuffling at his neck and ear, loosening his collar with a finger, ruffling his hair with his breaths, giving the boy chills.

"What are you doing, demon."

"Satisfying my curiosity, my lord, and yours..." and suddenly the earl felt the demon capture a pinch of flesh from between his neck and shoulder with those glittering teeth and bite down. Not hard, but hard enough. The earl started to flail and let go a wild, panicky squeak, sending the ravens into nervous flight around them. He twisted away sharply from the biting demon, slapped as hard as he could the handsome face that was far too close and then planted his fists in the creature's chest to keep his distance. Not only was the demon's mouth twisted with mirth, it was also was spattered with blood. The demon's own, from where the slap had torn his lip on one of those delicately pointed teeth, and the earl's as well, from that wicked little pinch.

Later, in cooler temper, the boy would admit (at least to himself) that he hadn't really been hurt that much, but the demon _had_ broken the skin with those fearsome fangs and the earl was beyond incensed. He'd started to shout but somehow the sight of his blood dotting Sebastian's lips struck him dumb.

Amused at the boy's reaction, the demon licked the blood away slowly, voluptuously, watching the boy tremble, unable to look away. Not tormenting enough, the demon craned his head closer. Immediately the earl shouted for him to back off.

"Young master if you don't let me catch that (the dripping blood) it will stain your collar and ribbon." The demon eyed the lightly punctured skin still weeping a tiny crimson pearl— quite a provocative sight.

"I don't care. Clean it up properly."

"This _is_ properly for a demon. If you let me I can heal—"

"Do it proper _for a butler, damn it!_ Use a damn handkerchief and shut up! I never gave you permission to injure me." The boy sat with his arms crossed over his chest, fuming. When the butler tidied him up and returned the handkerchief to a pocket, the boy settled back with his back on his chest again—which rather surprised the demon.

"Anyway," the boy muttered, "how was it."

"Oh. Do I have permission to speak again?"

"Not if you're going to continue being a smart-ass...I asked you a question. Wow was it? You tasted, so give me a report."

"As anticipated, young master, there is every indication you will be highly palatable." The boy could hear the smile in the creature's voice without even looking and it irritated him no end.

"Ass of a demon. Quit laughing at your betters and take me home. The servants were told to expect us back in time for supper."

"But does it not please you to tread the primrose path of dalliance with your demon, my lord?* It isn't as if you're still angling for a pass through the pearly gates, after all."

"Do you want slapped again? I begin to suspect you enjoy it," the boy growled. "Home. Supper."

An ironic sigh escaped the demon's lips.

"What."

"All this talk of eating... so very many meals I must serve my little master before I finally get to enjoy my own."

"You'll get yours soon enough you smirking bastard," the boy growled, pulling up his collar angrily. "That is if you haven't nibbled me completely away by then."

The butler grinned widely and hoisted his little charge a bit higher in his arms as he prepared to launch them both into the air.

"I shall do my best to be patient, my lord."

.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

* A paraphrase from _Hamlet, _Shakespeare


	2. Chapter 2

"Damn it Sebastian, what he _hell _do I pay you for?!" the imperious boy in blue yelled as he stood atop his desk, fists on slender hips, roaring to make himself heard over the melee currently taking place in his office—normally a place of graceful tea service, the sweet, comforting smells of leather,ancient parchment and excellent cigars was now-

"Eaugh! It SPRAYED me! with-with- EEAUGH! My _eye_!"

"You do _not_ pay me young master—well, not yet at least."The butler smirked as he took advantage of a quiet moment in the eye of the storm to dab his handkerchief over the boy's face and eye, soothing the bloody scratches and mopping up the dripping cat urine.

Meanwhile, the three causes of the chaos were each attempting to achieve radically differing goals while writhing and whirling about together on the fine turkey carpet. And then the chaos widened out to envelope them all again:

"NO! BPHFFT! AAAGH, DAMN IT, FINNY!"

A cat shot over the desk, across the boy, climbed the butler like a tree then shot skyward for the tops of the book cases with a huge, overexcited demon hound in close pursuit, biting, snapping and clawing indiscriminately pretty much everything in his way. Pluto might've been a demon, but dogs will still be dogs, and not one of them can resist chasing _a fleeing cat._

"SorrymastersorrymasterI'msoverysorrymas—"

"Ah, the delightful exeuberance of a puppy, my lord. There really is nothing quite—"

"Don't just STAND there Sebastian, _DO SOMETHING!"_

"Oh, ah," The butler responded gently, as though profoundly surprised anyone would be discomfited in the least by what was afoot. He smiled sweetly, reached out behind and quickly threw open a casement window just as the cat was entering the final stretch and coming their way again, streaking across the tops of the bookcases which lined the room, the dog keeping pace by leaping up and raking the entire contents of each bookcase out and onto the floor, rare first additions, kaliedoscopes, stuffed birds and other Victorian bric-a-brac flying all over Hell's half-acre. The cat seemed tuned in to the butler's thinking and immediately sailed out of the newly opened window, seeming not to mind at all they were eighteen meters up on the first floor.

"So tough yet graceful and elegant, just like a demon," the butler murmured with a sigh.

The cat was quickly followed by Pluto, his black claws gouging hellish curls of wood out of the fine Mahogany desktop. He leaped at the window, snapping his jaws shut on the place where the tip of the cat's tail had been just moments before, and instead caught Sebastian's shoulder. The dog yiped, having got the full effect of the demon stink-eye aimed at him (Finny,still wallowing on the floor behind the desk missed it entirely.)The filthy look was quickly followed by a heart-felt demonic knuckle sandwich.

And that's when he started breathing fire (and so, Pluto did, too).

A moment later and Finny was out cold from a cut glass decanter which Sebastian had meant for Pluto's head (well, probably... maybe.) and then the butler was able to use his full powers on the canine nuisance who was soon (but not _nearly_ soon enough for the butler's tastes) also out cold and cluttering up the floor which the butler was certain would be required for other purposes. Considering the hopeless hash all this had made of the demon butler's sacred schedule, Sebastian was looking remarkably un-fussed. Suspiciously _happy_ in fact, and clearly admiring the widespread chaos. And the young earl noticed and was less than pleased.

And where had the cause of it all gone off to?

"You mean 'Her?'" Sebastian smiled even wider. "Don't worry, she is safe. She wisely shot out the window once things really started heating up, my lord."

"Heating up."

"So to speak." A smirk too smug for words.

"I don't give a red hot DAMN if your bloody cat is safe! If anything like that happens again-"

"Pardon me, my lord, but whose delightfully whimsical idea was it to bring that _thing_ home in the first place?"

"..."

"Hmm?"

The boy stared wordless daggers at the demon.

"Woof?"

"Ohshutup!" Ciel crossed his arms over his chest and stewed. "If anything like that happens again I'm going to order you to do some things you are really going to hate, do you hear me?"

"..."

"YOU CAN TALK NOW: DO YOU HEA—"

"Why yes, my lord, I had no trouble whatever hearing you. In fact I feel sure they had no trouble hearing you in Islington—"

"SHUT UP!"

"Tch, _do_ make up your mind..."

"YOU are going to find a solution to this problem or I'm going to order you to make a STEW of that CAT!"

"At once, my lord." The butler shot through the study doors before the boy could think up something worse.

.

.

.

_The next day..._

"Stop stalling, Sebastian, and tell me: why is it we're out here?"the boy demanded, stepping carefully over guy ropes, past elephants and between partially pitched tents. Circuses: how he hated them...

"A bit of loose end left over from the Baron Kelvin case, young master."

"Really! Did you track down more people from that Noah's Ark circus then?"

"In a manner of speaking..."

You should've told me I'd have worn my weapon."

"No need for that, my lord."

"But if they know what happened, what was done, you _know_ what you'll have to—"

"Nothing as dangerous as that will be required," the demon smiled and placated.

"No?"

"No. This performer will not be talking to anyone anytime soon. And just as with Snake, some souls definitely _can_ be saved."

Oh god. The butler was wearing _that_ smile: the one Ciel knew meant he had yet to hear the other shoe drop. Suddenly he realised they were standing in front of a _cage_ (_no_.) with massive iron bars (No.) he further realised the butler was gesturing at the interior of this very same cage. Well actually, his hand and shoulder were already _inside_ of it, his body so slim he easily fit through the bars. A fact made even more apparent when the cage's occupant (NO NO NO!)leaped up (**_NOOO!_**) and did her best to tear that shoulder off.

"Sebastian!" the earl cried, clutching the butler's nearest shoulder and arm and jerking him back while falling over backwards himself, scrabbling back further and further along the straw-covered ground as 21 stone (300 pounds) of black, orange and white outrage came hurtling at them, claws swiping, jaws snapping, throwing itself against the bars making a noise Ciel only ever expected to hear should the End of All Things come earlier than anticipated and he should have the misfortune to personally meet one of those beasts of the Revelation—one of the multi-headed ones because surely that GUT-SHUDDERING NOISE could not have come from a single throat!

"It's fine, my lord, (body leaping spasmodically as the tiger jerked and tore at his arm) this is just another play bite I assu—"

"No."

"My Lord?" (another jerk and his feet momentarily leave the earth.)

"NO, you are NOT bringing another animal monstrosity into my home!"

"With due respect, young master, _you_ started it," Sebastian smiled sweetly as the tiger—Betty was her name— did her best to detach his arm at the shoulder with jerks and twisting lunges, while he cooed and scritched and fondled her soft and fluffy white ear fur with his long, thin fingers.

"_NO, damn it__,__**NO!**_"

"So you want me to get rid of the dog, then? But I thought instead you ordered me to _solve the dog problem_. I could easily force some clothes on him and dump him in the docklands or even put him on a boat. in fact that is probably a very good ide-"

The boy reached out and clamped his hand over the demon's babbling lips.

.

.

.

About three hours later, after much talk (threats, blood, torn skin, torn off clothing, chewed off hair, sexual offers and much money changing hands) it was determined what was really missing in Pluto's life was a playmate- and _not_ one dressed in swallowtails, thank you very much, because the butler had _other_ duties to attend to. He also needed someone well able to teach him some respect for felines.

The hellfire was plainly dancing in the demon's eyes as he said that last and the earl groaned when he saw it.

.

...

.

Sebastian rolled the laden tea cart into the young master's office at precisely four pip-emma, the beautiful set of Royal Doulton gently ringing together like fairy bells announcing the welcome advent of Tea Time. The demon in butler's skin was smiling, a serene, vastly self satisfied smile that tended to make the other servants gulp and dive for cover and carriage horses roll their eyes and shy violently. Innate equine wisdom teaches them it's never good when a predator near you shows its teeth.

But the demon's smile only served to put the boy earl into an ill-mannered grump.

"For this afternoon's tea we have Fortnum and Mason's best Darjeeling, accompanied by a selection of tea sandwiches, shortbread fingers dipped in dark chocolate and orange icing and also a small selection of truffles in different coatings." The boy immediately stuffed all the truffles in his mouth at top speed, shoving in the walnut, coconut and cocoa covered confections before the butler could tell him he wasn't allowed to eat them all—a rotten trick the demon often played under the guise of 'teaching the young master discernment and restraint.' But today, strangely enough, the demon only stood by and beamed in a most unsettlingly cheerful manner.

"Oo pu somefing funny in 'em inn oo." the boy mumbled, his cheeks bulging with chocolates, hand already twitching greedily over the delectable-looking shortbread fingers.

"What an appalling notion. You wound me, young master, really you do." He didn't look particularly wounded though, just kept grinning away like he was Lord Mayor of Doolally.*

"What has you in such a disgustingly good mood." Ciel managed after swallowing most of the chocolate in his mouth. It felt like some sort of defeat just having to ask the question.

Just then a dreadful wail rang out somewhere outside: an ululation, a cry for mercy. It was the voice of a terrorized dog who'd reached the end of his emotional rope, yikeyikeyiking away as he ran around the perimeter of Phantomhive mansion.

"Sebastian, when is that going to stop? That's the fifteenth revolution they've made today!"

"Young animals are bursting with energy my lord, it's best if they burn it off this way." Well the boy supposed that was true, but he was starting to feel really sorry for the damned Hellhound.

"She's still scratching hell out of you though," the boy observed, eyeing the usually perfect-appearing butler Heal faster."

"Perhaps my young lord would like to contribute some of his blood to hasten—"

"Find. Another. Way." the boy ground out angrily. This was close to the eleventh 'affliction' the demon had 'suddenly developed' and wanted some of his blood to cure. Ever since that wicked little bite Sebastian had given him up on his enemy's roof, the boy's soul was no longer the only thing Sebastian was interested in sampling.

The demon, meanwhile, had drifted over to the window and looked out. Betty was on her back, right in front of the mansion front door, her inverted body underneath Pluto, massive jaws wrapped around his throat, front claws holding him to her in a painfully tight embrace, back feet doing their level best to eviscerate him. Luckily for Pluto he enjoyed a demon's quick healing abilities, so long as he was well fed and well cared for. The butler unshipped another deep sigh, fingers playing with the place where the tiger had ripped his ear clean off the side of his head just that morning as she'd awakened in his arms, the both of them stretched out together on the demon's bed (with the brave but tiny 'her' snuggled in the bend at the back of the demons knees.

"I'm just happy my lord has finally permitted me to keep a cat," he said, grinning like a loon.

* * *

><p>Doolally- way of saying you're off your head. Crazy, in other words. Great etymology though admittedly I'm using it about 20 years too early but it's just such a fun word you'll just have to put up with it... you really should look it up though, if you're into words and history.<p> 


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